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“Leave to go where? The ship is here.”

“I meant relocate to a different building. There’s plenty of abandoned spaces we can hide in.”

“For people, yes, but the horses?—”

“Will have to remain in the stable for the moment.” Her lips turned down. “Much as it hurts me to abandon Luna, I’m aware trying to move and accommodate them would be difficult. Hopefully we can sneak them past the knights to board the ship when we leave.”

“Sneak horses?” Josslyn blinked.

“If the knights are distracted, then it’s totally doable.”

“Let’s ignore the horse dilemma for a moment. What makes you think the captain of the ship will agree to grant us passage to Verlora?”

“If he refuses, we’ll ask him to take us to Saarpira.”

“The isle of pirates?” Josslyn squeaked.

“Yes. Most likely the vessel is from there so it shouldn’t be too difficult to convince the captain to bring us along when they set sail. And before you tell me I’m crazy, keep in mind, Saarpira would place us out of Benoit’s reach. Plus, my understanding is the pirate isle has many ships coming and going. Surely, one of them will give us passage to Verlora.”

“You do realize we don’t have the funds to pay for any of this.”

“I’ll think of something.” Avera hoped. Josslyn did have a point, not only did they lack resources, but she had nothing to trade. A pardon for their pirating from a queen in disgrace? Promises of payment from a treasury she couldn’t access? Was there anything she could offer to convince someone to go?

She thought of the Verlorian sailor she’d seen in the tavern. Perhaps she could convince a former citizen by implying she could help with whatever issue plagued Verlora, even as she had no clue if anything could be done. No one seemed to know for sure what happened. She’d heard variations from the plague to the island sinking, to it being covered in fire. The wildest stories claimed monsters now roamed and killed all living things that dared trespass.

“I wonder where Gustav is spying from,” Josslyn murmured. “I didn’t spot him during my sojourn in the taproom.”

“Knowing Gustav, no one will see him, not even us. While we wait for his return, we should pack our belongings and his, so we’re ready to move.”

“Which raises another dilemma. There’s only a single set of stairs. We’ll be seen the moment we descend with our bags.”

“Are the soldiers planning to spend the night at the inn?”

Josslyn nodded. “Yes. They’ve got the floor above us. I overheard Korr assigning their rooms. He also told them they could stable their mounts.”

“With ours.” Avera’s lips flattened. “They’ll be wondering who they belong to.” Not to mention, Luna remained rather distinctive given Volaqu steeds weren’t exactly common. “I’d hoped to wait until they went to bed to relocate, but the horses might give us away.” She glanced at the window. Too visible to climb out of. “We might have to tie some sheets again to exit.”

Josslyn grimaced. “Because that went so well last time.”

“Would you rather possibly fight our way out?”

“There’s four of them. Decent odds.”

“Killing soldiers is problematic for a few reasons. For one, these are royal knights, people who serve the crown. They’re just obeying orders.”

“From a traitor?”

“They don’t know that,” Avera reminded. “Secondly, attacking them will bring trouble to the people here.”

A tap at the door had them eyeing each other in panic. Avera wouldn’t have responded but Josslyn trilled, “Who is it?”

“Korr.”

The owner? What did he want? Had he come to blackmail or trick them into giving themselves to the soldiers?

Seemingly unconcerned, Josslyn strode to the door and opened it. “Hello, good sir. Was there something amiss?”

Korr glanced sideways before leaning close to whisper, “I know them knights are after ye.”